Dracula Week '22
Dracula is a romance novel?
One day my mentor in graduate school said to me, “Consider the book Dracula as a romance novel.” As a romance author myself, it hadn’t occurred to me to view this enduring work as a romance novel, but as one of my favorite all-time books, Bram Stoker’s Dracula rates high for me. The rating is based on the facts that I adore epistolary fiction and no matter how many times I read Dracula, I find something new or different to think about. Why couldn’t I see Dracula as a romance novel?
The left side of my brain immediately reminded me of the eight elements of the romance novel defined by educator and researcher Pamela Regis in her book A Natural History of the Romance Novel (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.)
society defined
the meeting
the barrier
the attraction
the declaration
point of ritual death
the recognition
the betrothal
My mentor’s intriguing statement got me looking at Dracula in a different way. Right away, I ran into a brick wall. Who are the love interests in the story? The standard romance tropes require that two individuals develop an attraction followed by overcoming obstacles resolved by culminating in an agreement between the parties to make changes necessary to commit to a lasting relationship.
One day my mentor in graduate school said to me, “Consider the book Dracula as a romance novel.”
Now you may be thinking, “The obvious romantic couple is Miss Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker because they end of happily married and with a son they name after the man who gave his life to save them.” As a matter of fact, Stoker tries to tie up several relationships at the end of the book explaining that Godalming and Dr. Seward live and are also “both happily married.” And yes, the final remarks of that stalwart Van Helsing point to perhaps Stoker wanted readers to see the story of Dracula as a romance with a happy ending:
“We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her sake.”
Doesn’t this sound like the end of a romance novel to you? It does to me, but I must admit that other elements of the story stand out so vividly for me that seeing a love story as the main idea hadn’t crossed my mind until those words from my mentor.
What do you think? Can you sink your teeth into the idea of the novel Dracula as a romance? Why or why not?